Sweet Bean Paste is an absolute masterpiece of a novel and feels like such a hidden gem that deserves more attention and wider discussion. Following Sentaro, an ex-con who now works in a confection shop, and Tokue, an elderly woman whose hands were disfigured by a disease she had as a child. Sentaro works at Doraharu, a confection shop that exclusively sells dorayaki, which is two pancakes with a filling in the middle. Their sales are average to keep them afloat and Sentaro is able to keep paying off his debt to the owner of the shop. But when Tokue enters the shop in search of a job she begins to make the bean paste and sales quickly pick up. However, when the customers begin to notice Tokue’s disfigured hands the sales dip again and the newer customers do not return. Eventually, Tokue and Sentaro decide that is best for the shop if Tokue stops working, but despite this, the popularity of Doraharu’s dorayaki never picks up again, and Sentaro questions which is more important to ...